Bulldoze a house. Rip off roofs. Batter a wall with an iron weight swinging from a crane boom. Scoop up debris and dump it in a big truck for disposal.

What more could a roughneck want?

Except demolition isn't like that. Not if it's done right, according to Al Miller, president and founder of Wildcat Renovation in Fort Myers. He's been in the business for 25 years, the past two as the owner of his own company.

"I used my life savings to start it," Miller said. "I kept seeing the owner getting rich off the back of other men's sweat and not giving them any credit for it," Miller said of his decision to leave his former employer and start his own outfit.

His crews don't just go in and knock down a building and haul off the wreckage, he said.

"To dismantle it you have to know how to put it together," Miller said.

Engineers sometimes are brought in to help, such as the time his workers had to shore up a 28-foot load-bearing wall for Faith Presbyterian Church's sanctuary expansion in Cape Coral.

The company specializes in cutting concrete, shoring up structures and stripping out buildings. It also will do high-end residential renovation such as replacing bathrooms. It took apart three-inch iron-reinforced concrete walls for the former McCabe's Pub in Naples. When it was done the vault door and its frame in the former bank was preserved. Workers removed a roof from a home garage in Cape Coral so the owner could add a second story.

The company also specializes in renovation work in hospitals, where trenches sometimes need to be cut in concrete to reroute wiring and cables. The workers have to know what they're doing so they don't sever critical medical lines and put patients in danger somewhere in the hospital, Miller said.

Nick Kief, project manager for general contractor DeAngelis Diamond, said he's known Miller professionally for about five years.

"He's always been very professional and thorough in the work he's done," said Kief, who currently is overseeing the air conditioning improvements at the Collier County jail. Wildcat is providing trenches and cutting concrete and removing the interior duct work for the job, he said.

His men have different tasks and work together, according to Kief.

"It's like a big production," Kief said.

"They get in and get out but they do a good job as well. He keeps s to the schedule," Kief said.

Miller, who manages the business with his wife and controller, Jillian, began learning the demolition as a teenager. He was hired by a business in Detroit and worked his way up. He's 39 now. He learned to operate heavy equipment and to teach others how to use it. He wanted to learn more.

"I went to my boss and told him I was interested in getting into sales and estimating," Miller said. He learned to price jobs and picked up project management experience on another job in Indiana.

Eight years ago, Miller took a job in Southwest Florida. Although he was in that job during the recession, he managed to increase company revenue by 117 percent. He's still growing revenue, only for himself now.

Wildcat had gross revenues of $1.7 million in 2013 and is on pace to bring in $2.6 million this year, Miller said. The employee roster grew from 15 at first to 25 now.

"My goal is to be the best in the Southwest Florida area. I see us doing $5 million inside three to four years," Miller said.

"The economy is picking up steam. A lot of places fell into disarray and now they're starting to move," Miller said.

He's hoping for consistent, controlled growth in the area.

To be the best in the region, Miller encourages a teamwork spirit among his employees. Each person has a job and has to be responsible for getting it done, he said. The others have to be supportive and encouraging, he added.

Wildcat has to treat the workers well, too. He tries to make the pay a fair wage for a fair day's work. A rate around $15 an hour is a good wage for people in the business, he said. Employees also get 13 sets of pants and shirts. Wildcat is expanding the locker and shower areas where workers can wash off concrete dust and other grime from a day's work before they go home.

On his end, Miller looks for ways to economize, such as recycling building materials from job sites to bring in revenue and reduce landfill costs at the same time, or using software to estimate jobs instead of doing it on paper.

Stepping out to start his business was a risk. But some clients from his prior job followed and advanced construction draws so he could buy more equipment, Miller said.

"It was scary. It was overwhelming. It was exciting," Miller said with a short pause. " And it was fun, too."

Freelance writer Don Ruane can be reached at 693-8563 or

ruanedon@aol.com.

Wildcat Renovation LLC

• Location: 3710 Canal St., Fort Myers

• Phone: 239-226-1461; mobile 239-634-8020

• Email: Al@wildcatrenovation.com

• Web: wildcatrenovation.com

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